Saturday, March 17, 2012

CIRCUMCISION - A JEWISH MOTHER HAS A CHANGE OF HEART

A personal story from a Jewish mother who finally researched circumcision, and had a change of heart once she learned the facts.

Written by: Rebekah C. on her Thoughtful Momma blogPosted With Permission from Author

"Circumcision is one of those issues that has moms flaring at the nostrils and screaming in protest regardless of how they personally feel about the issue. I remember the first time someone challenged me on the topic and how furious I was when she suggested I was advocating for infant mutilation. I was, to put it blandly, enraged.

I grew up being raised in a blended faith. My family are Messianics: Jews who embrace Jesus as the Messiah promised in the Tenach. I remember my youngest brother’s Bris quite well but because his Bris was a reception only (the actual procedure was done in the hospital), and the only other one I’d ever been to happened when I was so young I couldn’t really remember it, I had no idea, really, what circumcision entailed other than my parent’s sublime explanation: “It’s when a little flap of skin is cut off as a sign….”

Years later, I married a man who wasn’t circumcised. Not to go into too much private detail but I will tell you that I thought it was so COOL he wasn’t. I had this idea that it made him unique, almost exotic. I laugh a little at myself now, of course. I have only ever “been with” my husband so it’s not as if I had anything at all to compare it to and now, of course, it seems ridiculous to consider something entirely normal as “exotic”.

However, as we talked here n there about our faith, future children, that sort of thing, circumcision came up a lot. At that time in my life, I truly believed that our son(s) needed to be circumcised. That not doing it to him would be a sin. For me. Not him, for me and for my husband.

I am explaining this to demonstrate the backwards and completely blinded point of view I had at that time. When I conceived my first child, I still felt that circumcision was just something I had to do. Thankfully, she came out without a penis, lol. I deeply cared about my child and had she been born a boy I would have had her circumcised believing I was doing the very best thing for her physically AND spiritually. I wasn’t any less of a loving person then. I haven’t become more intelligent over the last 6 years, either.

That said, I was definitely thinking backwards. See, I would never have dreamed of asking my husband to be circumcised. If asked, I would have explained why by saying that it was his body, not mine, and that the decision to cut himself was between him and God.

Are you catching the discrepancy here? It wasn’t ok for me to ask a grown man to choose for himself but it was entirely ok with me to make that decision for my defenseless baby?!

Then, one day, when my oldest was about a year old, I become involved (to my embarrassment, now) in a flame-war going on in a wonderful little yahoo-group that revolved around birthing. As I’m sure you can imagine, mother’s are vicious and don’t really pull any punches when they are advocating their motherly choices for their children. This little war was epic, yes it was. Someone had posted an informative link regarding circumcision awareness and someone else had immediately retorted about being judged and it went off from there. I kept my mouth shut at that point as my personal opinion was that circumcision for any reason other than religious was stupid. But then, the fateful words hit my inbox: “Mutilating your son in the name of your god is still wrong, regardless of your religion.” Ooh I was hot! SO angry. It was like someone punched me in the stomach. How DARE this woman comment on something so intimate and personal as another person’s religious beliefs! I’m afraid I wasn’t even really “hearing” her point, I was just pissed she presumed to know another person’s heart when making decisions like this.

Looking back on it, she didn’t say anything cruel or intentionally insulting, she was just speaking the truth. But it was ON in that moment. I wrote a lengthy, heartfelt, passionate response. She returned it with one of her own. She made me look like a complete idiot without even trying because she had all this “information” about what was done and it’s life-long implications and I realized I had no idea what I was talking about! So I set about researching her claims, intent on digging up the opposite research to shut her up.

That isn’t what happened, though. I had been told growing up that the anti-circumcision movement was “the Enemy’s” attack on God’s people. That it was anti-Semitic, etc etc. And I was convinced that I could prove her wrong by going to science. After all, wasn’t it true that being circumcised was healthier? I mean, obviously she was just bigoted or misled…right? RIGHT?

Nope. No, in fact, every click I made drew me further and further into an education I didn’t even know I needed. I learned, for the first time in my life, what a foreskin really was and how it compared to female anatomy. I also learned about other forms of ritual genital mutilation that are NOT socially acceptable but defended with the exact same arguments as what I was using! (referring to Female Genital Mutilation, here) I watched circumcision videos (not for the faint of heart, let me tell you! I cried…a lot). I read medical websites devoted both to defending the practice and ousting it as an outdated unnecessary and yes, harmful procedure. I learned things I never dreamed could be true, including that just as many baby boys die during the neonatal period of their lives from being circumcised as do from SIDS. THAT interesting fact spurned me to learn even more and by the end, I was a changed person. I was humbled and I had some serious thinking and soul-searching to do.

I, like so many others, looked for ways around the religious “need” without actually denouncing circumcision. I researched “gentler” ways to remove the foreskin from the son I hoped for, even going so far as to consider doing it myself so that it was done “Biblically” and with the least amount of harm possible!

It was then, when considering doing it myself that I realized that I had lost my friggin’ mind! I mean, I’m sitting there, considering cutting a piece of my son off myself in order to protect him from harm!?!?! What was WRONG with me? I came to the conclusion that there was something seriously wrong with my thinking. My husband, of course, had been going through his own thoughts and research about it and obviously, being uncirced himself, came to the same conclusions. It was a relief, in a way, but posed other issues for us. Concerns about “sin” and about rejection from my family (who still see this as something sacred and necessary). I’ll come back to my thoughts on that at a later time, though.

I’m happy and even proud to say that now I have a 13mo old baby boy who is happily and blissfully ignorant of what he’s been spared. His body was left intact, as it was designed and functions normally. It may be that someday he’ll grow up and, for his own reasons, decide to get circumcised. I admit that as his mother I hope he doesn’t: I think he’s perfectly created just the way he is and it would be a real shame to mutilate a part of his perfect little body. But it’s his decision ultimately, and that’s what matters. HIS choice. Not mine.

I share all of this because I want people to understand that I get it. I know how complicated and difficult this “choice” feels because I’ve been there. I’ve agonized over it, defended it and seethed when anyone contradicted my perceptions of reality.

I really want to talk about this more, it’s a subject I’ve come to feel very passionate about. I want to help stop this horrible practice and help other parents to wake up and see what it is we’re doing! I realize this topic will piss people off. For a long time I hesitated to write about it because I don’t really like intentionally offending people. Unfortunately, though, the truth is the truth. Sometimes hearing it angers people. That’s ok. If someone hadn’t offended me, my son’s little penis would be mutilated today and I sincerely hope that I can share that gift of “enlightenment” with someone else."